


Cube of Destiny (Destroyer of Worlds Remix)

by Neverever



Category: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Genre: Future, M/M, Multiverse, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-25 06:20:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9806942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever
Summary: Imprisoned Kang the Conqueror gives Tony a cube that will show why Steve is still a danger to the future. Except that Tony finds out that there is more to the story.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [navaan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Taste of a Different Life (The Armors and Dragons Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9627509) by [navaan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan). 



> Part of the Captain America/Iron Man Relay Remix 2017.
> 
> Big thanks to my beta who helped a lot, especially with the title.

It seemed these days Tony was spending far too much time in the office and not enough time in the suit. He gave a mournful look out the panoramic office window at the perfect flying weather. Not that he wanted a fresh set of bad guys to fight, but he missed the team. Honestly, he really missed Cap most of all.

Admittedly, it had been quiet on the supervillain front since they fought Galactus. He should call more often. Or hang out at the mansion for team-bonding. Spend more time Avenger-ing, and not just when they needed extra muscle in a fight. And as much as he hated it, he should keep fight-training with Cap too. He got warm fuzzies whenever Steve congratulated him on a good combo hit.

Still, he had to pay attention to his other pride and joy, Stark Industries. The company stock had tumbled and the Board was grumbling over projected losses at several divisions. Before, Tony would put in a solid day or two, sorting problems, getting people on track, and whipping up inventions for the R&D folk. Rinse, repeat, and the company would be back on top with obscene profits.

This time his tried-and-true formula failed him. He found himself mired in stubborn, unfixable problems, faced with the horror of firing some key, but underperforming, staff. He had even come up empty in the invention department. Nothing was working.

Rhodey gently suggested that maybe Tony had to make a choice – Stark Industries or the Avengers. 

“Can’t serve two masters, Tony,” he said over beers on the beach.

Tony had long owed Rhodey a weekend getaway. He finally made good and whisked them off to a tropical paradise for some R&R. “You’re just saying that because you want in on the Avengers.”

Rhodey chuckled. “I’m not giving up the day job.”

“What, the Avengers aren’t exciting enough for you?”

“It’s not my team. I like helping out when I can, but it’s your team. And Steve’s.”

Steve had not made up his mind yet about whether he wanted to take over the team. Tony had asked several times, only to hear Steve say he was ‘still thinking about it.’

“Everyone’s welcome.”

Rhodey sipped his drink and stretched his arms and cricked his neck. “Welcome is one thing, third wheel’s another. Steve’s always going to want you.”

“Whatever,” Tony said with a shrug. “Just an idea. I could talk to Steve --”

“You could talk Steve into anything, Tones.”

“Right.” 

Tony looked at the foamy waves going back and forth, falling deep in thought. What if somewhere else there was another Tony? Sitting on his beach with his Rhodey, thinking about his Avengers. Maybe the other Tony wasn’t in the Avengers or there weren’t any Avengers in that Tony’s universe. That Tony worked hard, slept through the night, had dinner and movie nights with his wife, or husband, or Steve. 

What would it be like to be that other Tony, wherever he was?

“Tony, it’s vacation. Turn off your brain,” Rhodey chided.

“What? I wasn’t –“

Rhodey nudged him. “I could practically hear the gears turning in your head, Tones. Vacation.”

~~~~~

When Tony returned to the office on Monday, he was no much more relaxed than when he left on Wednesday. He also wondered why Pepper had outlined Friday lunch in red on his calendar. 

“What’s the deal with Friday?” he asked, looking up from his phone.

“Cap asked for a lunch appointment,” she replied, and pushed over more papers to sign.

“Can’t you just put my electronic signature on these?” he asked with an impatient wave at the stack. “And since when does Cap need to make an appointment for lunch?”

“The law hasn’t caught up to allowing electronic signatures for some documents, and your schedule is too tight to allow for spontaneous lunch dates,” Pepper said as she briskly gathered the pages. “Cap asked when Mr. Stark was free for lunch. You had an empty spot.”

A spike of guilt stabbed him in the heart. He hadn’t seen Cap in weeks, maybe longer. That wasn’t good at all. He’d hate it if Steve decided to quit the team. He’d hate it even more if he kept barely seeing Steve. 

“Oh, and when you get the chance, you need to call Reed Richards. He’s been trying to reach you all weekend.”

Tony groaned. Not what he needed at this moment. Especially if Steve was planning to quit the team. Which Steve should not be doing, not at all. 

It turned out that Reed was playing messenger for Kang, still locked up in Reed’s special prison for really tricky super bad guys. Kang wanted to meet with Tony as soon as possible. Pepper cleared a spot in Tony’s schedule for that afternoon.

“Ordinarily I would not have insisted. But Kang has been difficult,” Reed told Tony, a slight frown on his face as they walked toward Kang’s cell. “It was easier to have you two meet.”

~~~~~

“You wanted to see me?” Tony asked.

Kang was seated on his bed, coolly studying Tony. His mouth twitched. “I’ve been watching you,” he said at last.

“Oh?” Tony figured that Kang wanted to make a deal. He couldn’t be too happy in his cell and he wasn’t likely to settle for an offer of a better television. 

“I know you care deeply about the future of this planet,” Kang continued regally, as if he was bestowing a gift on Tony. “I warn you that he is still a danger to the future and must be eradicated.”

“Captain America? Right.” Tony already regretted coming here. “Nah, it all worked out. We defeated the Skrull invasion and a dozen other threats, and even fought and won against Galactus. The wins are piling up in our corner, thanks to Cap. And now you’re trying to sell me on how he’s still this big threat.”

Kang pushed a small silver cube to the edge of his bunk. “Watch this and you will understand. Steve Rogers -- Captain America -- must be stopped and removed.”

~~~~~

Tony had no idea how he had managed to pocket a bit of future tech and smuggle it out of the Baxter Building without Reed jumping him for it. And for all that subterfuge, he wasn’t sure if he planned to watch whatever crazy Kang wanted him to see. He continued to fiddle with the metal cube in his pocket as he arrived at the Avengers mansion, which was currently damage free, a rare occurrence. 

Steve, Destroyer of Worlds, was standing at the kitchen counter reading a magazine and eating milk and cookies. 

“Hi Tony,” he said with a milk mustache.

Tony filled with the usual warmth at Steve’s smile. He couldn’t quite explain it but he felt like a better person standing next to Steve. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I’m in between training sessions,” Steve said. “Got to get the new team members fighting fit.”

“Hmm, guess I need to catch up.”

“Maybe join the team for the dinner tonight? Clint and Jan are ordering pizza,” Steve said. He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at Tony.

“I could do that,” Tony replied. “You know, I’m going to be wrapping things up at Stark Industries soon and I’ll be around more often. Maybe I’ll move back in.”

“That’d be great, mister. We can get back to sparring regularly, get you back into form.” Steve said and thumped him on the back.

~~~~~

Back in his penthouse apartment, Tony was already missing Steve and his laugh and his awful poker face and the feeling he got when Steve’s bright blue eyes met his. Tony sighed as he tossed his pants over a bedroom chair when Kang’s cube rolled out of his pocket. 

He had forgotten about it while he was at the mansion. Steve had talked him into playing cards after dinner and he had stayed later than expected.

He sat down on the bed and examined the cube for buttons and hidden levers. As soon as he brushed his thumb over the smooth silver surface, it glowed and projected image after image on the wall. 

“What the hell --?” he gasped. 

Mesmerized, he gawked at movies of his life and Steve’s. Other Tonys and other Steves. A Tony and a Steve fighting in a abandoned building. A different Tony and Steve in battle suits grappling with each other as the earth burned around them. Yet another Steve driving his shield into a Tony’s arc reactor as he lay prone on the concrete.

This was what Kang wanted him to see. Tony narrowed his eyes. 

He knew that the Tonys and Steves that he saw were not him or his Steve. The uniforms and the armors were different. He’d fought Steve before when he had been possessed by the Purple Man, but he had not really tried to kill Steve. These Steves though … Tony shuddered. Maybe they were Skrull Caps that Steve had not stopped.

His thumb brushed the cube again and the cube projected different images.

A Steve and a Tony in western garb in a saloon sharing drinks and a joke. A King Tony knighting a Squire Steve. A Steve running his hands over the red and gold scales of a Dragon Tony. Lots and lots of Steve in a dizzying array of Captain America uniforms standing with lots and lots of Tony in every conceivable armor.

Tony and Steve fighting off killer squid in one scene, taking on an Adaptoid in another, and facing down an invading alien army in another. A Tony pulling an angry sheriff Steve away from a gunfight. A Knight Steve holding up a tri-color shield of red, blue and white, brandishing his sword to disperse bandits attacking a noble Tony. Tonys rescuing Steves from ice and snow and the depths of the cold dark ocean.

Tony couldn’t breathe as the images kept scrolling. A Steve carrying Tony out of a burning building. Western Tony trying to staunch the wound of a pale sheriff Steve. A grief-wracked Tony sitting by the body of a bloody Steve covered in his shield. A Steve bent in grief next to a collapsed building. Profound loss, grief and pain. 

The images shifted again. A Tony buying flowers from florist Steve. A fairy Tony dragging a fairy Steve to dance in the moonlight. Another Tony giving Steve a motorcycle and Steve giving him a kiss. A Steve and Tony on a date, another Steve and Tony getting married, and yet another Steve and Tony on their honeymoon. Laughter, hugs and kisses.

He clutched the cube, which suddenly turned off, leaving him in the dark.

Reed would be overjoyed at evidence of the multiverse he had been going on about for years. But what Tony saw, what he felt, he wasn’t going to share with anyone. He could almost feel the kiss on his cheek from Steve from one of the last images.

Kang had wanted Tony to see only the universes and the futures where Steve destroyed the world. But now Tony pondered all the other futures. 

What would he say when he saw Steve next? ‘Kang gave me this crazy future-projecting cube thing and I tried it out. Hey, you know there are at least fifteen different universes where we are married?’

What was worse was Tony couldn’t unfeel what he felt when he saw a Tony and a Steve walking along a beach hand in hand. He wanted that with his own Steve. 

Did Steve even have a bathing suit? Tony wondered with a pang of desire. His mind churned with possibilities. 

~~~~~

Friday and the lunch with Steve loomed before him, consuming his waking and sleeping mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about Steve and whether he should tell him. 

Pepper went over his schedule in his office at Stark Industries on Thursday. 

“I have no meetings tomorrow except for a two-hour lunch with Cap? I could swear I had meetings in the afternoon,” Tony pointed out. Pepper usually gave him two hours for a lunch meeting, including travel time, and never needed to totally clear his day. “What changed?”

“Nothing,” Pepper said like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. “Your afternoon opened up and--”

“Pepper,” Tony interrupted as he swung around to look her in the eye. 

Cap had needed to talk to him. About something serious. A dozen scenarios flooded his mind. Maybe Kang had given Steve his own cube and convinced him to leave the Avengers to save the world. Maybe Steve would never get to see what Tony saw. 

He couldn’t let Steve quit the Avengers. 

Pepper sighed. “Cap isn’t planning to quit the Avengers, Tony.”

“So, you do know why he wants to see me.”

“I’m not telling you. And your 9 o’clock is here.”

~~~~~

On Friday, Tony rushed over to the restaurant. With no time to change out of his workshop clothes, he dragged an ancient suit coat out of a closet at Stark Tower, raked his fingers through his hair, and called it good. After all, it was lunch with Steve. It wasn’t like Steve hadn’t seen him worse for wear before.

Except lunch was at one of the fanciest places in New York, and Steve was waiting for him in what was clearly a tailored new suit. An extremely nice suit at that. And his hair had been carefully combed into place, and it looked like he was sweating bullets.

Tony took a deep breath. All he had to do was act like he was supposed to be there and attitude would make up for his disheveled appearance. A little swagger, some beguiling charm, and no one would question why he was there, presuming it was for business.

After what he saw in the cube, anything could be on the table between him and Steve. That thought terrified Tony and his heart thrummed loudly in his chest.

Steve stood as Tony walked up to the table. He even tried to push in Tony’s chair as he sat down. Tony bit his tongue to stop from asking why Steve was blushing. 

“Uh, so, lunch,” Tony said casually as he opened his menu.

Steve smiled beautifully. “Yeah. Lunch.” Then he nearly knocked over his water glass, catching it before it flooded the table. Tony had never seen Steve flustered. 

“Do you have any idea what to order?” Tony wondered, squinting at the menu.

“I picked the restaurant. I heard that this is one of the best restaurants in Manhattan.” Steve’s face fell. “Unless you want to go somewhere else.”

“No, I’m fine here.” Tony looked over at Steve slowly shredding a linen napkin into pieces. 

Now Tony had lived a life and wasn’t born yesterday. He had a weird feeling about this. Steve had an anxious look on his face, and Steve was never anxious about a damn thing in his life. 

They were in an excellent restaurant, Steve was not wearing his uniform or workout clothes, and, to be honest, if it were anyone else, Tony would think he was on a lunch date.

The words on the menu were a blur to Tony. “Um, Steve –“

“Yes, Tony?”

“This isn’t a business lunch, is it?”

“Well, no,” Steve said in surprise. “I asked Ms. Potts about –“

“A date?”

Steve nodded. “I thought she told you.” He was blushing beet red now. “Since Galactus, we’ve had a lot of down time, and I learned a lot about this new century I woke up in. And about myself.”

Cap was a man of action. Of course he was going to be direct and to the point. “Oh. And?”

“Tony, if this is making you uncomfortable –“

Tony sighed and put down the menu. “Cap, no, Steve. I’ve spent the past four days trying to sort out whatever Kang was saying about you being the Destroyer of the Future. And thinking you were going to quit the Avengers to go on a cross-country trip to find yourself. So I’m feeling out of sorts and behind the ball.” 

For whatever reason, Pepper had completely failed to tell Tony that Steve was asking him on a date.

Steve nodded jerkily. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it, Tony. I understand if you aren’t interested.”

“No, no, no. That’s not it.” Tony bit his lip and looked out the window at the sidewalk traffic. He turned back to Steve, with his big, beautiful, blue, worried eyes. 

All he could do was smile. “I’m saying that I’m too tired right now to appreciate that I clearly won the lottery.”

“The lottery?” 

Spreading his hands widely, Tony said, “Pepper didn’t tell me anything about lunch. This is a surprise – a big surprise – and I had no idea. Wait, I’m not making this any better, am I?” He cocked his head. “You’re pretty serious about this, aren’t you? Because you didn’t even ask me about Kang.”

Steve frowned. “I didn’t ask Kang on a date, mister.”

“Technically you didn’t ask me either.” Tony bit out a chuckle. “Kang started off my week by telling me you’re going to destroy the future. I don’t think he was thinking you were going to do that by having a lunch date with me.”

“He’s worried about me destroying his future. We don’t have to care about his future. If I’m going to --”

Memories of what Tony saw flashed through his mind. He had enough of his wits around him that he knew he wasn’t going to tell Steve just yet what he had seen in Kang’s cube. 

“You’re not. Not going to destroy the future or my future or whatever. Kang’s trying to spring himself out of jail -- he’ll say anything.”

Tony straightened and smiled at Steve. “Let’s stop talking about Kang. Let’s talk about anything else. Like, why the restaurant? And you have a crush on me? Because I have to tell you, I’ve been thinking about you too. A lot. Though I was worried you were going to tell me you’d decided to quit the Avengers…”

Steve beamed. “I’m not leaving the Avengers, Tony. Not when I’ve got you.”

“Good. That’s good. Because I’ve got something to show you that will knock your socks off.”

~~~~

Kang looked at the stony faces of the Council of Kangs. 

“You have completely and utterly mucked this up,” a Kang announced. “You had one thing to do – stop Captain America – and you found a way to make it worse by letting Captain America and Iron Man ally themselves even closer.”

Another Kang added, “Now all our timelines and universes are affected to the detriment of all Kangs. You must pay for your failures.”

“I did not fail,” Kang insisted. “I have been fighting –“

“Not good enough,” yet another Kang stated. “We are taking what little tech remains to you. You should consider yourself lucky that we don’t kick you out of the Council of Kangs – and we still haven’t have decided that point yet.”

Kang’s scream of frustration and anger reached all the way up to Reed’s lab. Reed looked up from his experiment and blinked a few times. “Sue? What was that?”

She was working on her laptop on the other side of the lab. “Kang must have read the news – they had an article about Steve and Tony out on a date. Hmmm, they’re very cute. We should invite them over for a couples’ night.”

“How would Steve and Tony ‘dating’ change the future?” Reed asked, deeply puzzled.

Sue chuckled. “Who knows?”


End file.
